It looks like a Spitfire, or maybe a Seafire, on a CAM ship:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAM_Ship
Quote:
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CAM sailings on Arctic Russian convoys began in April 1942 with a RAF aircraft maintenance unit in Archangel.
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I thought only Hurricanes were ever used, and only by the British. It could be that after the Hurricane was used on an outbound voyage, the Spit was all that was available for the return trip? Perhaps it was a trial to see whether the Spitfire would fit the catapult, and presumably it didn't fit neatly enough to be used so the Spitfire wasn't in fact carried on the return journey? That bit near the tail wheel looks odd, it doesn't look exactly as I'd expect a tail hook for carrier operation to look, but even so it makes me think this might be a Seafire.
A thought on photos from that long ago. The real photographs being chemically made with all shades of gray from near white to near black will degrade, but newsprint, being black dots on white paper, though it may fade, will retain all the detail, so wouldn't it be useful to use newprint of photographs rather than originals, since the originals seem to be degrading to uselessness?